Torrey

You can grow waßßertang, but not hornwort? Have you ever read Anne Bishop's "The Black Jewels Trilogy"? You sound like Janelle in the book😅 I would love to get waßßertang, what water parameters and lighting did you find to be the best environment?

@Zenzo is there a post / journal / thread thing with the full calendar of events? Or at least the guest speakers events? Trying to find the link again, I think I generally find things by accident 😅 You and @Candi keep me from getting lost, lol

I have begun using industrial magnets to store most of my tools, and I grabbed a Christmas wreath hanger to hang hoses up to dry. I grab Driscoll's berry boxes from Costco to store rocks, gravel, sand, and other scape materials under the bottom shelf of my rack system. I'll regret it if I ever have a water leak, but I am big on free, and the ability to accommodate organization in a tiny space.

My fave breakfast is barbacoa burrito with papas😎 Nom nom nom

You answered my question, where are you, lol. @Aqua Shack great to read you during the talk! A few questions, and then I can streamline suggestions. 1. What kind of turtle(s)? 2. How many? 3. Size of enclosure? 4. What plants do you have on hand, and have you verified non-toxic for your breed of turtle? My first recommendation would have been the Easy Planters, because ez🤷‍♂️ Even so, my ornate ornata will rip them out, so I custom build "plant protection" so Karma the turtle can mow things back but not kill them completely.

@Zenzo I know that as a perfectionist, you were frustrated, AND Three talks so far and today was the first time there were issues? I don't know if you follow the crisis teams, but the fires are wrecking havoc on infrastructure. You know they are hot when they are killing sequoias which evolved in a symbiotic relationship with fire. I think the talk was still pretty awesome, and a reminder that no matter how many dress rehearsals and dry runs, Murphy's Law will still have the final say. Thank you for the series, and I gotta say, it was awesome reading @Guppysnail in the chat today!

Believe it or not, the shells are getting **more** color as they grow. I'm wondering if water and food have anything to do with coloration? I have noticed guppies I leave in the turtle pond stay a super pale/silver color. If I move them to the Walstad tank (mostly dark substrate) when they are young, they get **really** dark and blend in with the substrate. Similar problem with the ramshorn snails. But if I wait until snails or guppies are larger, their color stays more true as they grow? Anyone ever test this theory? I don't know if it's a camouflage response due to originating in a predator tank?

My internet is being glitchy, I have more photos to upload to show the red foliage... but it's going to have to wait. 😕 I've tried 3x, and the interwebs swallow my pictures🤷‍♂️

I believe so, it was in a grab tank of unlabeled stem plants at a new FW LFS.

Still figuring out how to keep the nitrates up, lol. I'm close to on track, the duckweed started multiplying like crazy (to the turtle's delight), and the stem plants are starting to pick up steam. The reds are staying red! Especially directly under the light. Enjoy the update pictures 💜

That second smaller one might not get much bigger, depending on how strong the endler genetics are. He's more endler looking than guppy.

Mine has! I also used Miracle Gro organic soil, though mine was capped with the black blasting sand from TS. "Why do you say 'was capped'?" Funny you should ask😅 I followed Diana's advice and got both blackworms and MTS to keep the substrate turned.... the MTS are overachievers and they have completely rescaped the tank🤣 However, the plants are much happier, and I have red leaved plants for the first time in my life. You can check out pictures in my journal. The easiest way to keep a betta sorority is to get 5 to 7 females (odd numbers seem to work better) that were raised together and have never been separated. Gianne talked about this in the members talk on bettas. Bettas that are wild caught will be bottled together, and not fight! For some reason, they don't do very well being reintroduced after being separated. Like @Louise said, heavily planted tanks help, too. Create lots of height differences in your substrate, and plant on the "hills" to visually block line of sight, and create an extra "room" or two in your 55 g and you should be fine. Fully cycle the tank, and add your dither fish first, to improve your chances of success.

@Colu that's an important piece of information I wish was shared more often. Livebearers can have white poo when they are pregnant, especially just before they drop fry. Their poo matches what they eat, as export literally matches import. Mine enjoy biofilm, roots of plants (when plants are floating), and hunt whatever moves in the tank. Which meant I was constantly treating for parasites, until I saw Cory's video presentation on live bearers...

I suspect that the plants already exhausted the K then, as I have been primarily losing the stem plants that were so vibrant on the right side of the tank originally. I'll start adding the Flourish I have, and order EZ Green from the Co-op

@Odd Duck Bolthouse Farms large bottles work. Just takes a little practice to cut in the right place

I used to have my own company ( a side business) and shipped everywhere in the US, plus territories, plus a few countries. This was before the internet, so I had to get a tax code booklet each quarter, look up the tax rate, and do the invoice accordingly. I know the hastle, and it's only gotten worse. I loved filling orders for people in Oregon, zero sales tax! Cory, you have the patience of saints, and so does Candi!

Slightly better images now that the rest of the lights are off. Obviously, tomorrow is another trim day, lol. Luckily, trimming plants is very soothing for me... I'll try to post more pictures tomorrow evening. The milfoil (pretty sure it's milfoil) is growing very rapidly. It's planted in the very back of the tank and has grown up, across the top, and looks like a green halo for the tank. I'm finally starting to get some algae on the front glass. So a little cleaning tomorrow after all of my appointments, too. [I need to learn how to take better aquarium pictures, lol]

I'll try to get a better picture later, but wanted to give an update. The tannins and the decomposition of the plants that died off only brought the pH down a miniscule amount. Water test show 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and 0 nitrates😳. Between the black worms and the Malaysian snails, the sand cap over the dirt no longer exists... neither does the white path or the beach area, lol. It appears that out of the 5 stem plants that I planted, trimmed, and replanted on the right, the original rooted section completely melted back... but the replanted trimmings are finally taking off. I have added some female guppies from the turtle pond (pretty sure they are all female, and were separated young enough to hopefully not overpopulate the tank, lol). I added 5 originally, and after 2 weeks added more. The Malaysian trumpet snails were not impressed with my scaping abilities and have completely rescaped the tank😅 Apparently they are a little better than I am, as every plant they have moved (generally via excavation shifting the ground / causing slides / mini avalanches) is flourishing. The plants I painstakingly replanted with a vision, has either been moved or rotted / melted back.🙄 Since I still have more than 3x as many plants as I bought (replanting what I trim is so rewarding!) I still feel the tank is a win. Looks like I need to increase the bioload, as nitrates still are not able to get above 20 ppm (last weekend they were at 20 ppm, this weekend zero. Kit is still in date, yes I shook till my arm wanted to fall off, and 3 of my tanks have different nitrate levels so the API test is detecting nitrates) and literally fell back to 0 ppm this week. So, Nerm input time: What do you think would look good in a 10 gallon tank that fluctuates from 65° at the coolest, to 75.5° F at the warmest?

Anyone ever answer a question, or read a response, and it triggers a song to loop in your head? Earlier today I answered someone that "everyone needs some cories in their life".... and an earworm of Mamba No 5 got stuck in my head. Just went to feed the guppies in the spouse's 4' tank, and as the guppies erupted with activity, my spouse broke into "won't you take me down 🎶 to Guppy Town🎶 oh won't you take me down 🎶 to guppy town🎶" Anyone else singing to their fish?

You can get an infant medicine dropper from almost any pharmacy, and let them know you need to measure 0.5 mL. Good luck! May your fish return to health rapidly. [Be sure to invert the bottle several times to get an accurate dose]

Thank you for the rabbit hole for tonight!

Does the bark still smell like pine/fir? Is it sticky in any way? Those are the two ways to check if there is still resin / sap in the bark. I have an entire pine tree log in my 4' tank. Guppies are thriving, as are the snails. I just made sure it had fully dried and the resin was no longer sappy. I have some orchid bark decomposing with my amphopods (as well as the orchid flowers that fell off the orchid plant). Again, everyone in the tank is thriving. Just remember to test water parameters regularly for the first couple of months, and if you don't want green algae growing on top of the orchid bark, I recommend covering with some moss. I'm sure your tetras will be thrilled with the tannins!

If you want to make some money, ask Zenzo how to set up a small brackish water tank. Before elevating the salinity, add the nerite snails to lay eggs. Remove the snails, and gradually increase the salinity. Takes a bit for the eggs to hatch, and even longer for them to grow into adults that can be sold.... but worth the wait.

There isn't a collar on the worm, so that is not an earthworm. @Odd Duck called it: red wriggler / eisenia feitidia is used for compost bins, fishing, and gardening, as well as feeding to turtles and large predatory fish. Even axolotl enjoy eating them. If your aquarium is sufficiently aerated (like with a UG filter) they can live in the substrate for months. My spouse has a phobia about worms and larvae (can't even say the words around my spouse😅) so I know first hand of the struggle. If you have any potted plants near by / overhead, that's probably how the worm got in... unless you are like me and randomly put wood in the aquarium with out overly scrubbing it if there is no risk of chemical contamination 🤭 (ask how I know)....

I'm like @Tanked, I used airline tubing to create a large corral for my floating plants. If you use a hair dryer to warm up the tubing first, and allow it to select the size of the corral, it lays flat better. Plus, I can move the corral out of my way for maintenance. The corral is big enough that I can dip a plastic 1 oz scoop in to gather up / scoop out duckweed and water lettuce to feed the turtle 2x a week.